Black

XXIX

Their laughs surrounded me. Their smiles were enough to make me smile myself. Their heads were thrown back from laughter that I didn't know what was its cause. The view in front of me was the sun that shone down on my life, scaring the darkness away.

Amidst their happy laughs, a very distant cry could be heard. I tried to pry my eyes off them, but it felt like they were the magnet that attracted my eyes and refused to let go of them.

Everything in front of me felt like it was on a lapse, nothing happened except for their laughter, as the sound of the distant cry became louder and louder.

I opened my eyes, my cheeks cold from being in contact with the glass window for so long. When did I fall asleep?

I lifted my head up, wincing at the pain in my neck muscles that must have occurred due to my wrong sleeping position. Rubbing my neck, I looked around and found Zoella curled in a small ball, her body shaking as soft cries escaped her.

I dropped my arm as I got up and walked to the bed, lying beside her, "Zo," I murmured. I knew this would happen.

"Hey," I said and placed my hand on her body, barely functioning what was happening.

Zoella lifted her head and looked at me, her face red. "It's alright, don't be scared, I'm here." I hugged her body to mine.

"Where we?"

"We are in a new home for a while."

"Why? I loved our old one better," she said, her voice cracking.

"We will stay here just for a little while, Monkey," I lied. I had no idea what came after, I didn't know where to search for a house, nor did I know if the money we had was enough to buy a house and keep us alive too.

"And then we go back?"

"Maybe." She sniffled and sighed, burying her face back in my embrace as I placed my head on the headboard of the bed.

After a while, she shifted her position so she was looking up at the ceiling. Her palm was just beside her head, so I started drawing circles on it, "Zosie, are we always going to be running from the beast?"

My hand stopped doing what it was doing as my mind processed what she said. When I stayed silent for long, she looked at me. "No, one day we won't be, and you would have grown up and became a beautiful woman with beautiful memories and a creative mind, who will paint the world with colors. There would be no monsters at all," I whispered, my hand getting back to drawing circles on her palm and my eyes avoiding looking at her.

"Will you be happy then?" She asked. This time I looked at her, trying to read the expression on her face. Her eyes were fixed on our hands that were beside her head as a hint of sadness covered her small face.

"Baby, I'm happy as long as I'm with you."

She looked at me and shook her head, "I'm a big girl, I understand."

"What are you talking about?"

She shrugged and looked back at our hands, "You always not....with me. You always looking at the wall and you don't hear me when I talk to you. Sometimes, I repeat what I said again, so you would listen, and sometimes I don't because I would not want to distub you."

I opened my mouth and closed it again. "Zoe, you can talk to me anytime you want," I finally said.

She stayed silent and I didn't push her. One, because I knew that would do her no good. Two, because I didn't know if I could answer her questions anymore.